Opinion: Democrat-led impeachment inquiry will be major issue in Alabama Senate race 

By Paul DeMarco 
 
The general election for the United States Senate seat here in Alabama is still over a year away, but the campaign between Democratic Senator Doug Jones and one of the Republican candidates seeking to challenge him played out this past week in Washington D.C. 
 
As the Democrats push an effort to impeach President Donald Trump behind closed doors, this past week Congressional Republicans finally started to push back. 
 
About two dozen Republican Congressman entered a closed door committee meeting held by the House Intelligence Committee this past week to call out the lack of transparency in the impeachment inquiry being run by Democrats. United States Congressman Bradley Bryne, a candidate who wants to take on Jones,  was one of those who disrupted the meeting and called the proceedings against the president “a hatchet job.” 
 
Senator Doug Jones strongly criticized the Republicans attack of the way House Democrats have managed the committee hearings. He also defended the Democrats approach to attempt to remove the president despite the House of Representatives failure to pass a resolution to move forward with an Impeachment inquiry. 
 
We will see more of these barbs thrown back and forth as we approach Election Day. You can also expert all of the Republican candidates looking to unseat Jones to go after him on his support for the process House Democrats are using to target the President. Recent polling has shown that Alabama is one of, if not the strongest state for President Donald Trump. This means Jones will further alienate himself in Alabama aligning with the House Democrats. 
 
And while Democrats may be pushing impeachment in Washington DC, Alabama voters are watching the election year drama closely back home.